ordinary christianity for the world.
Corinth, A Church Divided, 1 Corinthians 4:17-21
Poetic Praise
Coming
1 Corinthians 4:17-21
Paul begins by saying, "That is why" (v. 17). In order to refresh our memories and to put this section in its proper context we need to remind ourselves of the conclusion from the preceding section that Paul was building upon here.
Paul had been harping on the differences between gospel wisdom and worldly foolishness. In particular, he had been trying to get the Corinthians to see this difference by contrasting the apparent success of the Corinthian church, which had grown large and wealthy and influential, with the apparent poverty of faithfulness experienced by himself and the apostles. It's almost as if he was suggesting that his poverty and difficulties were directly related to the unpopularity of the gospel he preached.
However, he was not arguing that faithful Christians must necessarily be poor. Remember that he said that he hoped that the Corinthian Christians would be numerous, wealthy and influential for the sake of the gospel — not for their own benefit, but for the sake of the gospel. The point that he had previously made was that the Corinthian Christians should not imitate the wisdom of the world, the wisdom of academic scholarship or the apparent success of the prevailing Greek culture. Rather, Paul called faithful Christians to imitate him. He offered himself as a model Christian, and called all Christians to become model Christians like himself.
It is important to note that he did not want others to simply regurgitate what he had taught them, though his teachings were very important, and Christians should know and understand what Paul taught. Rather, by calling on others to imitate him, he meant that they should not only be able to talk the talk that he talked, but they should be able to walk the walk that he walked. Imitation is more than being able to parrot what someone has said. To imitate Paul means to live in the same way he lived — not in the sense that everyone should be an unmarried, itinerant preacher, but in the sense of having the same goals, values and purposes that Paul had. Paul didn't mean that history should be frozen into First Century technology or culture. Nor was he mandating a cookie-cutter Christianity, where all Christians look alike and talk alike.
Rather, Christians are to imitate Paul's compassion and commitment to Christ. In essence, Paul was arguing for the necessity of Christian culture. Not a Christian subculture, where ghettoized Christians only associate with Christians or work to produce Christian kitsch, but a culture in which Christ is at the center and foundation of everything.
Do you know that word (kitsch)? It refers to things that appeal to popular or lowbrow taste and are of poor quality. Think of trinkets and knickknacks. But it's more than that. Kitsch is a German word meaning trash that is used to categorize cheap art imitation that mimics great original art. Kitsch is the product of mass production. Kitsch is produced for only one reason — profit. It may be difficult for us to understand kitsch because we live in a mass produced world. It may be difficult for us to think of any reason to produce anything other than profit. But genuine art thinks otherwise.
In fact, the difference between kitsch and art provides another example of the difference between foolishness and wisdom, between the values and practices of the world and the values and practices of the gospel. Paul calls Christians to imitate him, but not to be mass produced copies of the real McCoy. Rather, Paul has called Christians to become life artists, artists whose medium is life itself, who work in the same style or genre that he works in — his genre was culture. Paul was a human culture artist. He was shaping or working with culture. He was not interested in mass-produced imitation Christianity. He was interested in an abundant flowering of genuine Christianity. The two may look alike, but they are not at all the same.
To show them exactly what he meant, he sent Timothy to them because Timothy embodied everything that Paul was talking about. Timothy was a genuine Christian, not a mass-produced counterfeit. Paul described Timothy as "my beloved and faithful child in the Lord" (v. 17). Timothy was not Paul's biological offspring, he was Paul's spiritual offspring.
That's exactly what the gospel of Jesus Christ is all about — becoming children of God, heirs of the Kingdom of God, heirs of the covenant of God through adoption by Jesus Christ.
Timothy would remind the Corinthians of Paul's "ways in Christ" (v. 17). Here we see the primary element that is to be imitated — not Paul's dress, nor his way of speaking, or anything about him as an individual. We are not to imitate Paul's person, but his way in Christ. The Greek word translated way (hodos) literally means road and by implication it refers to the way a person progresses through life, the way a person makes progress in the world. In other words, we are to grow or make progress in Christ in the same way that Paul grew and made progress in Christ. This is the imitation that is to be central to Christian living.
In the final phrase of verse 17 Paul tells us that he didn't change his message depending upon who he was talking to. Rather, he was teaching the Corinthians just as he taught all Christians "everywhere in every church." Paul endeavored to make his preaching and teaching message always serve the same purpose — to encourage the growth of genuine Christianity through imitation. Paul's primary message was always the same — salvation by grace alone in Christ alone through faith alone in Scripture alone. This was not just the message of Paul's teaching, it was the message or central core of his life.
How is this done? How are we to imitate Paul? First of all, we must understand that imitation is not accomplished through original thinking. Christians are not called to be original thinkers. This is important to understand because it goes completely against the grain of contemporary belief and training. We are taught in our schools, colleges, universities and through the media that being human means being original, that we become most human when we are most original. Indeed, Humanism is the celebration of original thinkers as embodying the best that humanity has to offer. Artists will know what I'm talking about. At its root, we tend to think that to be human is to be original — authentic, and the more authentic we are, the more human we are. When we say that something is authentic we mean that it is a genuine original — not a copy, or that it has original authority. Authentic and authority come from the same root.
Here's the rub. The Bible teaches that only God is original and authentic. Please hear me. The Bible teaches that human beings were created in God's image. We are not originals, but copies of the Original. Nor do we have original authority. Rather, all human authority is derived authority, human being is derived being, and all are derived from God. That's what the Bible teaches.
We don't think about these things much, but over the centuries Christian theologians have understood the Bible to teach that Christians are called, not to think original thoughts, but to think God's thoughts after Him. We are not called to be original thinkers but to meditate upon God's thoughts, to study and ruminate on Scripture. Only God is original. Everything and everyone else is derived. This issues from the fact that God is not a created being, but is the Creator of all other beings. So, to try to think original thoughts is to try to become what only God is.
From a practical standpoint this means that God — God's thoughts (Scripture) — are to be at the center of all our thinking. We are not to try to think what no one has ever thought before. Rather, we are to think what God has thought and written in Scripture. The most faithful Christians are those who emulate God's thoughts most accurately and most consistently. The problem with trying to think original thoughts (other than the fact that it is impossible) is that being original means that we must make a conscious effort to not think God's thoughts — to avoid Scripture — because all thought about God's thought is imitative. Original thinkers cannot be followers because followers imitate their leaders (at least ideally they do). To be a follower of Christ or Paul or Calvin or Luther or Buddha means to follow them in their thinking, to imitate them, to think and live the way that they thought and lived.
And that is exactly why Paul would send Timothy to Corinth (v. 17). So the Corinthians could see how Timothy imitated Paul, so they could learn from Timothy's example how to imitate Paul, who was himself imitating Christ. They would find in Timothy the same concerns and teaching that they found in Paul.
Paul was passionate about this, even angry that some Corinthian teachers were not imitating him. Verses 19-20 must be understood to convey a single thought; "But I will come to you soon, if the Lord wills, and I will find out not the talk of these arrogant people but their power. For the kingdom of God does not consist in talk but in power." Here Paul threatened those Corinthian leaders who disagreed with him with public exposure of their pride — the very pride that was the source of their worldly mindedness.
Note that Paul was not interested in talking to his detractors. He wasn't coming to debate them. He was coming to demonstrate the power — the effectiveness — of the gospel. He used the Greek word dunamis, which in other places is sometimes translated as miracle when it describes the work of God. Jesus used this word when the Sadducees were arguing with him about the reality of resurrection. "Jesus answered them, 'You are wrong, because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God'" (Matthew 22:29).
Note that Paul conditioned his plans to visit them upon his own submission to the will of God. In other words, Paul was saying that his plans would only manifest if the Lord decided to use those plans to accomplish His purposes, if his visit conformed to the will of God. And, of course, all Christian planning should submit to God's will, not just in words but in actuality. And that is the point that Paul underscores in verse 20; "For the kingdom of God does not consist in talk but in power." Talk is cheap. Talk is easy. But Paul wanted results that conformed to God's will.
To understand Paul's point we must understand the difference between what he means by words and power. I don't know who first said that talk is cheap, but it is an often repeated platitude because it is so true and so common. Just because someone says something does not make it true. Neither does believing in what you say make it true. Surprise, surprise, people can be wrong. Now add to this fact the manifestation of what psychologists call cognitive dissonance, a condition that is all too pervasive in contemporary society, and you have the context to understand what Paul was trying to get at.
Cognitive dissonance is a condition that involves holding two contradictory beliefs or thoughts at the same time, while denying the fact of their contradiction. Jesus illustrates this phenomenon in Matthew 6:19-24, and concludes by saying, "No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon (or money)." Why not? Because "where your treasure is, there will your heart be also" (Matthew 6:21). In other words, our commitments will always follow our values. We will be committed to the things that we value, not simply the things that we talk about. It is very easy and very common for people to talk about their commitment to one thing, but in reality to be committed to something very different. It is common for people to talk about their commitment to God and Christ, while sacrificing or ignoring that commitment in their pursuit of money. It's easy to talk the talk, but walking the walk is another thing. That is why Jesus talked about this issue, it was a common practice in his time — and it still is.
Cognitive dissonance is saying one thing but believing another. Have you ever heard or said to your children, "Don't do what I do, do what I say?" That's cognitive dissonance. People who talk the talk but don't walk the walk are practicing cognitive dissonance. And that is what Paul was getting at when he said, "I will not know the speech of those who are puffed up, but the power" (v. 19). Remember that he had accused some of the Corinthians leaders of being caught up in the foolishness of the world, of having forsaken the wisdom of Christ for the foolishness of the world. Here he says that the difference between the wisdom of Christ and the foolishness of the world was not simply a matter of words or thoughts, but a matter of power.
In Mark 9:39 the word dunamis is translated as miracle in the KJV. The ESV translates it as mighty work. "John said to him, 'Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him, because he was not following us.' But Jesus said, 'Do not stop him, for no one who does a mighty work in my name will be able soon afterward to speak evil of me.'" (Mark 9:38-9). The Greek dunamis is the root of the English words dynamic and dynamo.
Paul was saying that the kingdom of God does not consist in talk but in dunamis — power, dynamism, dynamics. Paul was saying that what is important are the social, intellectual, and moral forces that are directed and empowered by God through men that produce activity and change in a given sphere, that actually bring about the kingdom of God. Words can describe the kingdom of God, but it takes power, defined as social, intellectual and moral force, to bring it about. That does not mean that the kingdom of God can be brought about through human activity alone. Yet, the actualization of the kingdom engages human activity or means in as much as any government (kingdom) involves the human activity of the people of its realm. The King establishes the kingdom, and the people receive it. The inhabitants of the kingdom must act in it and live in it and respond to it — and in receiving it they engage the social, intellectual and moral processes that effect every aspect of their lives.
In verse 18 Paul described some of the people in the Corinthian church as "puffed up" (phusioo¯). The word means inflated, proud, even haughty. He repeated the charge in verse 19. He spoke as if a major aspect of the problem that he was addressing — God's wisdom verses the foolishness of the world — was related to pride, as if there is a relationship between pride and foolishness. And that is a point worth repeating because there is such a relationship. Pride and the foolishness of the world are intimately related. They are cut from the same cloth. They emanate from the same spirit.
And Paul threatened to visit Corinth in order to expose the pride and foolishness of those leaders with whom he disagreed, those who were teaching other than he had taught, those who were filling the heads of the Corinthians with worldly foolishness. How would he do that? He would come and be an example of Christ-likeness in their midst. The example of his own faithfulness and humility would stand in stark contrast to the pride and foolishness that the Corinthians were used to. He believed that his own imitation of Christ (or Timothy's) would reveal their pride and foolishness by contrast. The light of truth would reveal what the darkness concealed. The example of his humility would reveal the reality of their pride.
Finally, Paul asked them, "What do you desire? Shall I come to you with a rod, or in love and the spirit of meekness?" (v. 21). Interesting question. This verse is hard, not because it is hard to figure out what Paul was trying to say, but because what he said so confounds our expectations of Christian behavior. Again, Paul was talking to the leaders of the Corinthian church. He was asking the leaders how they thought he should deal with them.
Imagine that Paul is your boss, who has been away, and you are talking to him on the phone. He has a disagreement with how you are handling things in his absence, and tells you that he will return next week. Then he asks you how you would like him to approach you about this problem when he gets back. Should he bring a "rod?" In other words, should he come brandishing the authority and power of his position? Or should he come with love and meekness? He's really asking whether you will have complied with his instructions by the time he returns. If you haven't, he will bring the rod — discipline. If you have, he will come in love and humble appreciation.
But what is Paul's threat? What will he do them if they fail to comply? What is the "rod" that he threatened to bring? We don't know. Scripture doesn't say. And it doesn't really matter. The point is that Paul exercised his authority against a group of Corinthian leaders who had abandoned the gospel by substituting the values of Greek culture for the values of the gospel. It is a very contemporary message, one that speaks to the churches today. The message is that the values of the world have no place in the church, regardless of their ability to make churches large, rich or influential.
The churches cannot be what God intends them to be unless they are fueled by the biblical gospel itself. As Paul said to the Romans (1:16), "I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes." The gospel itself is the power of God. So, if we want to get the church right, if we want to get evangelism right, we must get the gospel right. Our concern is not the results, not the growth, but the cultivation. In the next chapter Paul will remind them that he "planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth" (1 Corinthians 3:6). Planting and watering are the work of cultivation. We do not need to be worried about church growth, that's God's responsibility. We need to do the work of church cultivation.
"Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not be anxious, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?'" — or How shall we grow our church? — "For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you" (Matthew 6:26-33). The gospel is the wisdom of God and stands in opposition to the foolishness of the world.
